On the Linkage Between the Demographic Processes and Economy of a Region: (with particular reference to Pskov Oblast)

A low rate of natural increase, deriving from a disrupted age-sex structure, and net out-migration combine to account for a steady depopulation of Pskov Oblast. The introduction of industries providing additional male employment is recommended in the two principal cities—Pskov and Velikiye Luki—to correct the present predominance of women in industrial towns. Several measures (modernization of the countryside, promotion of truck-produce farming around the major urban centers) are suggested to keep more young people in rural areas and thus correct the lop-sided age structure there. Economic decision-making is viewed as a key factor in improving the demographic situation of a region.     

THE PROCESS OF SPATIAL CONCENTRATION OF POPULATION (with particular reference to the RSFSR)

A network of 484 economic microregions designed by the Central Urban Planning Institute is used as units of analysis to determine trends in the concentration of population in some parts of the Russian Republic. The analysis is carried out over time and on two levels: the area that contains 50 percent of the total population of the RSFSR, and the area that contains 75 percent of the population. In 1973, at the end of the study period, 50 percent of the population was accommodated in 4.3 percent of the area of the RSFSR, and 75 percent of the population was settled in 11 percent of the area. At the same time, one-fourth of the area of the RSFSR was found to be losing population.     

SOVIET POLICIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOUNTAIN REGIONS (with particular reference to the Caucasus)

Mountain regions represent a substantial part of Soviet territory, a total of 652 million hectares, which is 29.5 percent of the total area, or 21 percent of the usable agricultural area (including livestock range), but only 3.8 percent of the arable land. Soviet policy toward mountain development has varied over time. At first, mountain areas were considered a symbol of backwardness, and were not allocated a role in the Soviet modernization program. In recent decades, attitudes have been changing, but solutions have differed. The author, focusing on the eastern portion of the Greater Caucasus, shows on the basis of the literature and personal observations how the policy in Dagestan and in Azerbaijan, by allocating lowland activities to mountain populations, differs from Georgian policy, which since 1976 has actively sought to foster a revival of mountain economies.     

MAPPING OF RECREATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AROUND A LARGE CITY (with particular reference to Moscow)

An analysis of recreation uses in the Moscow region shows a generalized radial pattern focused on the city of Moscow as the center of demand and an outward diffusion with distance from the city combined with clustering along railroad lines. This overall pattern is deformed by landscape differences, with higher density of recreation use in well drained wooded areas and lower density in swampy areas. The locational patterns of recreational use are further broken down by groups of users. [For a previous paper on recreation in the Moscow region, see the paper by Vedenin et al. in Soviet Geography, May 1977.]     

THE USE OF URBAN SPACE BY THE POPULATION OF A CITY (with particular reference to Moscow)

In the first attempt in the Soviet literature to investigate the activity spaces of urban residents, the author analyzes the movements of five groups of 10th-graders from schools in five parts of Moscow. The activity spaces display a general regularity of extending along radial subway lines from the outlying place of residence (and school) to the city center, demonstrating two basic characteristics: (1) the sectoral orientation of activity spaces; (2) the inclusion of the city center. In some cases where industrial districts intervene between place of residence and city center, the activity space becomes discontinuous. It is suggested that urban planners can effect any improvements in urban living conditions most efficiently through the medium of the activity spaces of urban residents.     

A TECHNIQUE FOR CLASSIFYING URBAN PLACES IN TERMS OF DEVELOPMENT REQUISITES (with particular reference to Smolensk Oblast)

On the basis of a number of socio-economic and physical requisites, the prospects of future development are examined for all 28 urban places of Smolensk Oblast as of early 1973. The requisites are the economic-geographic (transport) situation, availability of water resources, labor resources, economic base, industrial terrain and housing. The urban places are assigned point scales combining these factors and are assigned to three categories (with very favorable, favorable and unfavorable prospects of development). The allocation of places to particular development classes is then tested statistically by association with two additional variables: population size and functional characteristics, and the corrections introduced by the procedure are analyzed. The prospects for further development are found to be most favorable for the six largest towns—Smolensk, Roslavl', Vyaz'ma, Safonovo, Yartsevo and Gagarin. (The study was completed before the founding in 1973–74 of two new urban places that are associated with major power stations under construction and are thus endowed with growth prospects: Desnogorsk, on the site of the Smolensk nuclear power station, and Ozernyy, on the site of the Smolensk peat-fired power station.)     

Economic-Geographic Prediction Of The Process Of Economic Development Of An Area (with particular reference to Irkutsk Oblast)

The present stage of economic development of Irkutsk Oblast is evaluated with a view to predicting future trends. The present stage is evaluated in terms of the economic structure of three intra-oblast regions (using Kolosovskiy's technique of energy-and-production cycles) and in terms of historical development axes reflected in settlement field potentials (see the author's paper in Soviet Geography, September 1970). Future development of the oblast is expected to be based on fuel and energy, forest, and nonferrous metal resources. The development process is said to operate both “in depth” (intensification) and “in breadth” (opening up of new areas). Development in depth, involving additional settling of high-density areas, produces pollution problems and involves the need for allocating recreation zones. Future development “in breadth” is expected in the northwest, northeast and south of the oblast, particularly along the border of Krasnoyarsk Kray, where a revision of administrative-political boundaries seems to be required. A reorientation toward the east of the oblast's predominantly westward orientation is advocated.     

On the Formation of Population in Regions of the Far North of USSR (with particular reference to the Aldan mining district)

The distinctive aspects of settlement of the Far Northern regions of the Soviet Union are reviewed with particular reference to the Aldan district, a gold and mica mining area in southern Yakutia. The main source of population has been net in-migration, with two-thirds of the labor force consisting of persons who move to the area temporarily, usually for one to three years. The permanent segment of the population represents only about one-third of the total. Working ages predominate among the migrants, and there has been traditionally a predominance of males, especially in the early stages of area development. However the sex ratio tends to become balanced as an area matures and the economy becomes more diversified. Indigneous ethnic groups represent only 9 percent of the Aldan population, with Russians predominating among the migrants and representing 78 percent of the population.     

Some Aspects of the Influence of Scientific and Technical Progress on the Formation of Economic Regions (with particular reference to the United States)

The concentration of research and development in the San Francisco Bay area is found to have attracted related aerospace and electronics industries, thus giving rise to a new type of economic region focused on research activities. The atomic and aerospace industry of New Mexico arose because of the need of having manufacturing facilities near testing grounds and missile ranges in desert areas, but is virtually unrelated to the rest of the New Mexico economy. Industries not dominated by any particular locational factor are being attracted to the dry subtropics of the United States, where the provision of water supplies and refrigeration and air-conditioning produces attractive living conditions for a skilled labor force. Advances in computer technology and electrical communications facilitate centralized industrial management and thus affect plant location.     

On Economic-Geographic Approaches to an Evaluation of the Use of Natural Resources(With particular reference to Magadan and Kamchatka Oblasts)

A resource-oriented approach to the economic development of new pioneering regions is recommended. In some regional designs, the resource base is given exaggerated importance as a developmental factor, not commensurate with the significance of the resources in the national division of labor. In the particular case of the Northeast of the ussr (Magadan and Kamchatka oblasts), the key resources on which development should be focused are nonferrous and rare metals (gold, tin, mercury, tungsten) and fisheries. Local coal and timber resources should be developed to the extent necessary to support the basic resource-oriented activities.     

Challenging Hegemonies through Connecting Places,People and Ideas: Jan Monk's contribution to international gender geography (with particular reference to Spain)

The main goal of the paper is to study Jan Monk's contribution to the development of international gender geography, in particular in Spain. Our aim is also to explain the experiences and numerous connections among places, people and ideas that she has been weaving to foster international scholarship and, in this way, how she has challenged hegemonic approaches in feminist geography. Jan Monk comes originally from the Southern hemisphere and therefore she is well aware of the extent to which ‘Northern’ (or Anglo-American) ways of seeing the world define concepts, theories and ideas in geography (and also in feminist geography). Being an ‘insider’ and an ‘outsider’ as well as her sensibility to the important of place has permeated Jan's contribution to international gender geography.     

The Tasks And Methods Of Geographical Studies For Forecasting Economic Development And Resource Use (with particular reference to the South of Krasnoyarsk Kray)

Geographical preplanning studies for the long-term planning of regional economic development are found to be inadequate to modern needs because they focus on resource use for industrial purposes and neglect the potential feedback effects of the environment on human activity. Several preplanning studies are examined and found deficient in this respect. The problem is illustrated with particular reference to the South of Krasnoyarsk Kray, where the new Sayan territorial production complex is under development. Preplanning studies are found to have neglected the potential impact of development on landscape ecology, agricultural geography, population geography and medical geography of the area. The need for quantified results suitable for planning purposes is stressed.     

THE USE OF ANALYTICAL METHODS OF MATHEMATICAL STATISTICS FOR IDENTIFYING RURAL PLACES WITH GROWTH PROSPECTS: (with particular reference to Kaliningrad Oblast)

One of the key objectives in the rural development program for the Nonchernozem Zone of the RSFSR is the consolidation of rural settlement in larger places. An example of the dispersed settlement pattern is Kaliningrad Oblast, which has a total of 1,527 rural places ranging from fewer than 5 to more than 2,000 inhabitants, with a total rural population of 195,529 (1970 census). The author shows that growth prospects are dependent on a combination of five factors—geographical setting and level of development; population; fixed assets in agriculture; nonfarm fixed assets; availability of services—and, using correlation analysis, identifies 283 places with prospects of future growth, ranging from 32 in the 51–100 size class to one of more than 2,000 population. The preservation of some small rural places is termed inevitable because many serve as outlying settlements for livestock subdivisions of collective and state farms, and dairy and beef cattle represents a characteristic type of farming in Kaliningrad Oblast.     

Contamination of archaeological deposits by seeds of modern origin with particular reference to the use of flotation machines

Modern contamination would seem to be of widespread occurrence on archaeological sites in Britain. It is particularly noticeable when recovery is increased by the use of a flotation machine. Sources of contamination and methods of distinguishing modern and ancient seeds are discussed. It should often be possible largely to discount the recent component providing that a certain amount of consideration is given to the problem in relation to a particular site, although there are still some areas requiring further research.     

Landscape Methods Abroad (with reference to land resource studies of the United States and Australia)

Although landscape research has not been set apart formally as a distinctive branch of geography in the West, the methods used in certain research programs in the United States and in Australia come close to the integrated areal approach to the study of the physical environment characteristic of Soviet landscape science. In the United States, landscape-like methods are used by the Soil Survey staff of the Department of Agriculture in its soil surveys of counties. In Australia, the landscape approach is used by the Division of Land Research of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in its reports on Australia's land systems.